\n Finance minister Cheikh Diba said the country borrowed at around 7 per cent using the structure, compared with 11 to 12 per cent in Eurobond markets.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe instrument allows the country to borrow at significantly lower cost than international markets,\u201d he said, adding that the savings reached about 36 billion CFA francs ($64 million).\n <\/p>\n
\n The defence follows reports that Senegal raised about \u20ac650 million through deals with lenders including Africa Finance Corporation and First Abu Dhabi Bank, using local-currency bonds as backing.\n <\/p>\n
\n Pressure after IMF setback\n <\/p>\n
\n Senegal has been under growing financial strain since the International Monetary Fund froze a $1.8 billion programme in 2024 after previously undisclosed debt was uncovered.\n <\/p>\n
\n Concerns over transparency and risk\n <\/p>\n
\n Despite the government\u2019s defence, investors and the IMF have raised concerns about the lack of full disclosure and the risks tied to such instruments.\n <\/p>\n
\n Total return swaps involve pledging bonds in exchange for cash, but they can complicate debt restructuring because it is unclear how they are classified.\n <\/p>\n
\n The IMF said it had been informed about the swaps but had not received full details.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cSuch total return swaps would be considered as external debt for the purpose of the Fund\u2019s debt sustainability analyses,\u201d a spokesperson said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Some investors also worry the structure could favour new lenders over existing bondholders if Senegal defaults, a claim the government denies.\n <\/p>\n
\n Senegal\u2019s approach reflects a wider shift among cash-strapped economies facing high global interest rates.\n <\/p>\n
\n While the strategy can reduce costs in the short term, analysts warn it could increase risks if debt problems worsen.\n <\/p>\n
\n For Senegal, restoring investor confidence and securing a new IMF programme remain key to regaining access to global markets.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Finance minister Cheikh Diba said the country borrowed at around 7 per cent using the structure, compared with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,184,85,46],"class_list":["post-361765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}